Romanian indicted for hacking email accounts of high-profile people

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Romanian using the online moniker "Guccifer" was indicted on Thursday on US charges of hacking into email accounts of high-profile people, including family of former presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush.

Lazar is already serving a seven-year prison term in Romania, where he was arrested in January and charged with hacking the email accounts of many Romanian officials, including the head of the national intelligence service.

The US indictment comes a year after a probe was launched over the breach of email accounts belonging to the former American presidents as well as other members of their family. The investigative website, The Smoking Gun, reported at the time that hackers had accessed several email accounts and then published personal photos and private correspondence belonging to the Bushes and their loved ones.